Hop Spider not boiling

[Surly_goat]

Hey guys

Just picked a grainfather(110v) and did my first brew with it. I bought a stainless mess hopspider to use with it. The grainfather has a pretty lame boil. Inside the hopspider my thermometer showed the wort being 98c(208f) so I'm a little worried I will have poor utilization.

It seems to me the general consensus is a 10% loss in utilization with a hop spider. Is this still accurate or will it be lower since Its not actually boiling.

 

[fusa]

What is your altitude? 208F is boiling for where I’m at. The hop spider is probably just breaking up the bubbles in the boil so it doesn’t look as vigorous as the rest.

 

[Surly_goat]

100 feet above sea level. My boiling point is 100c(212f). The rest of the boil is 100c but inside the hop spider it's only 98c tested by thermometer.

 

[day_trippr]

I doubt 4°F would have a significant effect on hop utilization, as long as you're getting decent flow through the mesh...

Cheers!